methods • Spears thicker than ⅓ inch are considerably more tender than thinner stalks, but they can get a little watery if you steam or boil them Highheat cooking methods like grilling, broiling, stirfrying, and pan-searing are best, allowing you to get them nice and caramelized on their exterior while still maintaining a bit of bite I also use large spears for braising Q: I’ve heard that I need to snap off the bottoms of the stalks and that somehow the stalk will tell me where it’s supposed to snap Any truth in this crazy story? Depending on its age, the bottom part of a stalk of asparagus can get unpleasantly woody or fibrous and so usually needs to be trimmed But what’s the best way to do this? Traditional wisdom does tell you that the “foolproof” way is to simply grasp the stalk at both ends and snap it, the asparagus magically breaking exactly where it needs to This question is often debated, and most people come down on the side of snapping But is it really the best method? After some pretty extensive testing, I’ve come to realize that it’s all a bunch of hokum Indeed, depending on exactly how you apply force to the stalk, you can get it to snap pretty much anywhere along its length, even when your hands are in the exact same posit ion Check this out: I snapped every one of these stalks with my hands, holding each one of them at the exact same point, and was still able to make them break wherever I wanted them to—quite easily, I might add Far better is to line them up, determine where most of the stalks appear to become woody (the stalk will begin to fade to white at that point), and then slice them all at once with a knife, picking out any outliers and trimming them as necessary on a case-by-case basis ...I snapped every one of these stalks with my hands, holding each one of them at the exact same point, and was still able to make them break wherever I wanted them to—quite easily, I might add Far better is to line them... where most of the stalks appear to become woody (the stalk will begin to fade to white at that point), and then slice them all at once with a knife, picking out any outliers and trimming them as necessary